Development of Environmental Monitoring and Simulation Methods for Human Pharmaceuticals in Japanese River Water

<p>In order to assess the environmental impact of human medicines, development of environmental fate prediction method in the rivers are necessary. Therefore, we have conducted a monitoring survey of pharmaceuticals in Japanese water environment. Further, we also evaluated a chemical fate prediction model and applied human pharmaceuticals.</p><p>Regarding the environmental monitoring development, we selected 111 pharmaceuticals as target compounds, and then we have developed a simultaneous analysis method of the 111 pharmaceuticals in water samples by liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). Then, we have conducted environmental monitoring of human pharmaceuticals in Japanese River Water. The sample preparation method, LC/MS/MS analytical conditions were developed and optimized in the present study. We have collected 700 river water samples during 2018 to 2022, then analyzed by the method. As a result of the environmental monitoring, we have detected 91 pharmaceuticals in the river water samples. </p><p>Regarding the evaluation of environmental fate prediction model, the concentrations of several pharmaceuticals in Japanese major rivers were calculated using a watershed model (AIST-SHANEL). Then, we compared the estimated concentrations of the human pharmaceuticals with the concentrations measured in this study. Further, we examined the parameters that is significant for the calculation results. The results obtained from the model can be applied to ecological risk assessments of pharmaceuticals of high loading flux to the rivers.</p>